Long-Term Impacts of Incarceration Exposure and Social Network Stability in Later Life

Does incarceration have long-term impacts on the social life of individuals as they age? This article examines whether and how previous incarceration exposure influences the close social circle in later adulthood. Based on a longitudinal data of 1,308 individuals, we find that individuals with incar...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Feng, Nan (Author) ; Cornwell, Benjamin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: The prison journal
Year: 2025, Volume: 105, Issue: 3, Pages: 263-287
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
network dynamics
marginalized population
Reentry
Social Networks
incarceration exposure
Description
Summary:Does incarceration have long-term impacts on the social life of individuals as they age? This article examines whether and how previous incarceration exposure influences the close social circle in later adulthood. Based on a longitudinal data of 1,308 individuals, we find that individuals with incarceration exposure have more network turnover over a 10-year period. Moreover, for older adults who had incarceration exposure, their frequency of contact, kin composition, and density at the baseline fail to predict corresponding network characteristics 10 years later. The destabilizing effect of incarceration on social and family life is long term and extends into later adulthood.
ISSN:1552-7522
DOI:10.1177/00328855251328866